5 important things happening in South Africa today
·20 Feb 2019
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- Finance minister Tito Mboweni will be delivering his budget speech in parliament today. Stakeholders will be looking out for any information on Eskom, and a path forward for South Africa to pull itself out of a fiscal hole. The speech will take place at 14h00. [Parliament]
- Former president Jacob Zuma has lashed out at the NPA, saying that it is ‘grotesquely’ obsessed with him, and determined to prosecute him at all costs. Zuma is trying to get corruption charges against him dropped, saying no one else has ever suffered as much under the NPA as him. [Business Day]
- EOH has taken another beating on the JSE, with a decline that rivals Steinhoff. The group has launched a whistleblowing app, after an anonymous tip to Microsoft about a government contract reportedly led to the cancellation of its licensing agreement with the group. [Bloomberg]
- The 2019 elections may be the most important since 1994, analysts say, with a very real chance that opposition parties show significant growth – especially the EFF. However, they have warned that having the ANC forced into coalition governance would also bring major uncertainty, and unsettle investors. [City Press]
- South Africa’s rand inched lower on Tuesday, with investors pricing in domestic risks ahead of the annual budget where the financial crisis at state power utility Eskom is set to be addressed. On Wednesday the rand was at R14.04 to the dollar, R18.34 to the pound and R15.93 to the euro.